


Another World

by monyaka



Series: Femslash February 2020 [12]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash February 2020, Mastermind Maizono Sayaka, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22685893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monyaka/pseuds/monyaka
Summary: Day 12 of 29 : Another WorldTsumugi Shirogane and Sayaka Maizono co-write Season 53 of Danganronpa, but Tsumugi asks for her memories to be wiped this time.
Relationships: Maizono Sayaka/Shirogane Tsumugi
Series: Femslash February 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619584
Kudos: 7





	Another World

**Author's Note:**

> this one was really really hard to write, like i got obsessed with tsumugi/sayaka literally Yesterday cause i was thinking about how they're so similar, and how sayaka would be pretty possessive and protective of tsumugi, who is so... stupidly naive that she'd put herself in a danganronpa game just to experience it. i kind of made it a little ambiguous, but it just broke my heart thinking about this au. i could go on forever abt this. anyway! hope u enjoy my newest rarepair

Tsumugi’s eye catches Sayaka’s from across the dining hall. She smiles nearly imperceptibly, but doesn’t move her hand to wave. There’s something so familiar about her. Familiar, familiar, familiar. She muses on it, taps her finger like a metronome against her chin. Sayaka’s best friends with most of the girls now—Tenko, Kaede, even Miu. She has a magnetic energy, a sweet laugh and a beautiful smile. 

And she’s just so  _ familiar. _

Tsumugi just wants to look at her until she figures it out. Really, she wouldn’t mind looking at her forever. Unfortunately, the truth can’t be recalled so easily. Even when she sees Sayaka raise a hand to her perfect lips and when she hears that familiar bell-like giggle, the memory slips from her grasp. Team Danganronpa is thorough, after all.

How could she remember the taste of Sayaka’s lips as Tsumugi was lowered into the pod? She can’t, just like how she can’t remember the hours they’d spent together poring over the script for V3, the way their voices had bounced off the walls and merged into near indistinguishable sound. She can’t remember the quickening of her heart when Sayaka first asked her out, or the way she used to kiss her coworker’s knuckles, or even the whispered pet names as they lay in bed, holding hands.

She doesn’t remember that she asked not to remember, that she signed away her life and identity and memories for an authentic Danganronpa experience. She doesn’t remember the way she gripped her girlfriend’s hands and begged her to let her experience her own execution, her blue eyes swirling with madness and love.

No, now she is plain, and unremarkable, and forgettable. But Sayaka still smiles at her, and she doesn’t know why, nor does she know why her pulse quickens like clockwork and her heart slams violently against her ribcage. She doesn’t know why, and she won’t find out anytime soon.

The last Flashback Light is what cements it. She remembers being the mastermind—or at least, she remembers the delusion she and Sayaka had cooked up back at headquarters. A contrived little plot, the realization that her friends have died, and it’s all her fault. It’s her own version of Izuru Kamukura, and her heart wails with the despair of it all. She’s killed her friends. She’s entirely responsible.

But she keeps it secret, keeps her hands from trembling until the last moment. When Sayaka starts to guide Maki towards the correct answer. When Voting Time begins. When she’s pronounced guilty, and she really does believe it.

When Sayaka extends her hand, and Tsumugi takes it. 

“I’m sorry I had to wait this long to keep my promise, ‘mugi,” she coos, quiet enough that only they can hear. The cosplayer blinks in confusion even as she feels she’ll drop dead right here. Sayaka smiles, answering her unspoken question, soothing the anxieties in her chest for a reason she can’t place. “I knew it all along, you know. That you wouldn’t have it in you to kill someone for real. It’s ‘cause I’m psychic, you know?”

Her eyes water, and she whispers, “It’s just so sad... I really liked you. I can’t imagine that you’d actually be the mastermind.”

Tsumugi gets a vague sense that she’s joking, but she doesn’t understand why.

Sayaka kisses her, and for a moment, she realizes there’s pain behind it. And had she been in her right mind, she might have realized too that Sayaka’s never wanted to watch her die. As much as she herself enjoys the thrill of the game, she’s never wanted to watch Tsumugi sacrificed. Sayaka wants to protect her from that same madness that made her ask to be placed in the game to begin with. But Sayaka reminds herself it’s just a simulation, and does it all to make Tsumugi happy.

Tsumugi doesn’t remember that, either.

What she remembers is the whir of machinery come to life, the feeling of tiny needles all over her skin, the terror and shame and guilt, guilt, guilt.

“Hey... can you hear me?”

Tsumugi opens her eyes, and Sayaka relaxes.

“So... tell me, was that everything you wanted?” 

The cosplayer’s smile is bright. “Yeah! You should do it next time, Saya-chan. You have no idea how convincing it is. My hair’s probably going to go grey!” 

And as she keeps chattering on, Sayaka slips a hand around Tsumugi’s waist, holds her protectively, and smiles. Perhaps other worlds can steal her girlfriend away, but she’ll always come back to Sayaka. And really... that’s all that matters.


End file.
